Beating around the Bush
by LightningRei
Summary: Ichigo is feeling *things* for Chad, but who the hell knows how to properly coordinate feelings?


Ichigo leaned back on the wall underneath the bridge, covering his face with a limp arm. His gritted teeth sucked harsh breaths between them before he unclenched his jaw to take in lighter breaths.

"Are you alright, Ichigo?" Chad asked from afar.

Ichigo raised his arm from above his eyes, taking a glance at Chad, who was brushing off his clothes of dust. The redhead covered his eyes again and huffed, sighing, "Yeah, I'm fine. I should probably ask you that. Dude hit you in the head with a bat."

"Hmm. I'm alive," Chad said, staggering over to Ichigo.

Ichigo's eyebrows creased, concern growing ever more in his face. Getting closer to Ichigo, Chad failed to raise his leg high enough off the ground, the concrete catching the tip of his shoe, making him lose his footing. Ichigo gasped through his teeth, while Chad only let out a slight waver in his voice in surprise.

Ichigo impulsively reached out to catch his friend, pulling back when two firm hands slammed on the wall behind him to catch the large teen's fall. Startled, Ichigo looking between the two arms that were held next to both sides of his head. With his eyes darting around, his eyes awkwardly made its way to Chad's one visible eye.

He was just as shocked as Ichigo, if not more so as he was utterly frozen in place. He knew that this position was awkward, though he didn't know how to move to make this less awkward. It didn't help that blood was running down his face, and that he looked like the scene of a murder.

Lowering his head slightly, which covered his eye with his hair again, Chad said, "Oops…" which snapped himself out of his stupor. But he didn't move.

_What is going ooooooon?! _Ichigo thought. _Ah, shit. There's no one around anymore._

Chad groaned, dropping his right arm and bending his left, getting him closer to the wall. He slumped down a bit, but it didn't help him from continuing to tower over Ichigo. It sure did help him get closer to his face though.

The redhead gulped, looking up at Chad who practically hung over his head. "You uh… you doin' okay, buddy?"

"Ichigo..." Chad said, his voice significantly more lax than prior.

Ichigo immediately turned as red as a tomato, his face burning enough to spew steam from his ears.

Then Chad dropped like a rock, Ichigo trying to catch him but in turn got dragged down with him. Ichigo yelped, one of his hands being caught between the ground and Chad's back, his knuckles and elbow slamming into the concrete with it. He was too busy absorbed in the minor pain and shock that he didn't realize he landed partially on top of Chad's chest.

His eyes rolled into the back of the skull as he was too flustered to make this awkward situation less so.

"Ow," Chad groaned. "I think I need an ice pack."

Ichigo unrolled his eyes and subtly snorted at the nonchalant comment. Any longer that his eyes stayed rolled, he might've started foaming from the mouth.

"I think you need a bit more than an ice pack. I'll take you back to my place and my dad can check you out," Ichigo said, sitting up and smirking.

Then he looked down to see what he pressed down on, and saw his hand on Chad's chest.

_It's like a huge cushion,_ was the only thought that went through Ichigo's head. _AH FUCK WAIT MY HAND IS ON CHAD'S FUCKING CHEST!_

His hand snapped up and off of his chest, then he awkwardly put it away next to him on the ground, trying to not make it seem like he was disgusted to have been touching Chad.

"Hmm."

"C'mon, dude. Get up."

Ichigo hopped to his feet, signaling for Chad to do the same. He slowly got up to his feet, looking down at Ichigo who smirked at him. The smaller boy extended his arm to welcome him to lean on him for support. Chad put his arm around Ichigo's shoulder and Ichigo put his around Chad's back. Together, they began limping off to the Kurosaki Clinic.

* * *

"ICHIGOOOOOOO!" A boisterous voice yelled, followed by a tough elbow jamming right into the side of Ichigo's temple. The momentum of the hit sent him spinning and flung him face first onto the sidewalk in front of their part home part clinic.

"Um," Chad said, a few beads of sweat trickling down his face.

"DAD, WHAT THE HELL? AREN'T YOU ON THE JOB? WHAT WOULD YOUR PATIENTS THINK IF THEY SAW YOU HITTING ME LIKE THAT!" Ichigo snapped up, rubbing his head.

"Luckily, it's no busy day, and the two patients we have right now are faaaaast asleep," Isshin said, stretching his arms.

"You almost make it sound like you killed 'em…"

"HOW INSULTING! However, it's more insulting to see you coming home covered in bruises _again_!" he glanced at Chad, who watched the squabble, then back at Ichigo. "And you dragged one of your friends into it too!"

"I didn't drag him— well… maybe I did drag him into it… Huh…"

"See!"

"That's besides the point—!"

"Ichigo!" A new voice interjected.

Ichigo's youngest sister peeked out from behind her father, rushing outside.

"Oh no, you got into another fight again! Come inside! You too, Chad!" Yuzu cried, grabbing Ichigo by the wrist and practically dragging him inside. Isshin moved out of the way, letting Chad inside their clinic first before closing the door behind them.

"Oh, Ichigo, you're still a trouble magnet as always, it seems," Karin said, reading a magazine off in the corner of the room.

"Wasn't my fault!" Ichigo hissed as Yuzu placed him down on a patient bed. "They had it coming."

"You say that everytime," Karin sighed, not looking up from the magazine.

"Karin, Yuzu, you look after Ichigo's friend, I'll deal with Mr. Delinquent himself!" Isshin demanded.

"Hey!"

Isshin grabbed Ichigo by the ear, twisting it violently and making him scream. "You are going to tarnish the name of this clinic if people find out that my only son is a backwards kid who's only looking for fights!"

"I wasn't _looking_ for it, they asked for it!"

"Mmmmhmmm," Isshin hummed, full of doubt.

He pulled out some antiseptic and cotton balls from nearby and got to work on cleaning up Ichigo's wounds. His son hissed from the pain of the chemicals getting into his wounds, wincing in pain when one dab of the antiseptic would burn more.

Ichigo just silently took the pain, glancing over at Karin and Yuzu who were tending to Chad every so often.

"Dad," Ichigo whispered, yanking on his father's ear and bringing it close to his mouth. "Can I, uh, deal with Chad's injuries myself?"

"Hmm?"

"I kinda want to talk to him. Alone," Ichigo looked behind him to the two unconcious patients. "Well, as alone as it gets."

Isshin gasped silently, his hands raising to his bearded cheeks. He knew exactly what Ichigo was going after. "My boy is becoming a man…!"

Ichigo hissed as his dad, his face flushing red.

"Yuzu, Karin! Let's go back into the house and get some snacks. You've both been working hard. Let Ichigo take care of Chad, alright?" Isshin said, standing up as he tried to pry his daughters away from their patient.

Karin glared at Ichigo, but the gaze was oddly smug. Ichigo gritted his teeth at her.

He waited until his family was definitely gone before he shuffled over and sat on the edge of Chad's cot.

"Yo," Chad said.

"Hey," Ichigo replied, picking up the materials his sisters left behind and leaned over his friend. "Chad, I- sorry for getting you into one of these messes again," Ichigo sighed, continuing the work of cleaning up the bruises on Chad's cheek.

"It's no problem," Chad said. "We promised that we'd have each others backs. I don't mind taking a couple of hits for you."

Ichigo brushed back Chad's hair off of his forehead, allowing him to finally see both of his friend's eyes at once. It was fun not being able to see either of them, interesting when he could see just either one, but it was different seeing both at the same time. Chad had such a soft gaze, in contrast to Ichigo's sharp and nearly always judgemental one.

The way Chad looked at him almost made him want to loosen up.

"Ichigo?"

"Oops, sorry," he said. He got up to get a towel and wet it as much as he could to wipe off all the blood off of Chad's face. Plopping down back onto Chad's mattress he grazed his forehead. The brown skinned boy winced and closed his eyes. Taking this opportunity of Chad not being able to see him, Ichigo mouthed "Oh my GOD," to himself as his cheeks got splotched with red.

"Ichigo, you didn't get your family out of here for no reason, did you?" Chad asked, eyes still closed.

"Huh? Well, yeah you're right. I just— uh. You know I just wanted to thank you for stickin' with me. It means a lot."

"Mm."

That couldn't only be what he wanted to say.

"Also! Uh. I never really expected someone like you to hang out with me. At least not for so long. You kind of hit… different compared to other people I know," he said, starting to slow down on Chad's face.

Chad opened an eye which made Ichigo flinch and reminded him to get back to working on his wounds.

The redhead looked away for brief moments, trying not to meet Chad in the eyes as his face was so obviously pink.

"I've known Tatsuki for like, ever, but I dunno, I don't think I'm as close to her as I am with you."

"Really?"

Ichigo sputtered, "Gah! W-w-well yeah! I don't see her staying with me to beat up losers asses like you! This is more intimate!"

He could see Chad raise an eyebrow from the corner of his eye.

"GAH! Not like intimate-intimate— It's just an us thing! I don't think I'd be able to have something like this with anyone else! Not with Keigo, or Mizuiro, or Tatsuki! Just you."

Chad stared up at Ichigo with no response as the boy started to fumble with some nearby bandages in a container. He gently began to slap some bandaids on Chad's smaller open wounds.

Silence rung between them and that wrung Ichigo's heart.

"You actually meant intimate-intimate, didn't you?" Chad asked flatly.

Ichigo was silent for a bit.

"Yeah…"

Chad chuckled quietly, making Ichigo dig his chin into his chest.

"It's okay. I like you too, Ichigo. You don't need to say it." _And you probably never will anyway…_

"Gah!"

His flustered response made Chad chuckle again.

"Are we dating now?" Ichigo blurted out, the impulsive question making his eyes roll into the back of his skull harder than before.

"If you want," Chad shrugged.

"Do you wanna…" Ichigo choked, "_seal the deal?"_

"Huh?"

"Like we…" he choked out of embarrassment more, really starting to feel the foam gurgle in his throat as he clenched his fists. "Kuh- kuh- kuh- ki- ki…"

It was starting to get painful watching Ichigo like this, so Chad just cut him off before he gave himself a stroke.

"Yes, if you want."

Ichigo snapped out of his embarrassment stupor and looked down at Chad.

"For real?"

"Yeah."

"You're really chill with all of this."

"I already said I liked you."

Ichigo whined, his eyebrows wrinkling. "O...kay…"

Ichigo clenched his eyes shut, drawing wrinkles on his forehead from the strain of it as he slowly began to lower himself down. Chad kind of just watched him struggle above him, not sure whether to be confused or to chuckle.

"It's okay, Ichigo. It's just me."

The stress in Ichigo's face let up slightly, but he still kept his eyes screwed shut. He kept slowly leaning down towards Chad's face, at least where he thought it was. He realized he was aiming off when a hand rested itself on his cheek and slightly angled his head properly.

Extremely embarrassed, he kept leaning until he was startled by the press of his lips against another. Ichigo screamed so loud on the inside of his head that stifled screams could be heard from the depths of his chest. He tensed up when he felt the same hand on his cheek trail up to the nape of his neck, feeling a finger slowly trace where his hair ended.

_Shiiiiit! I can't really be this awkward, can I?_

Taking the tiniest leap of faith, he rested his hands on Chad's cheeks and tilted his own head to the side to lock their lips together a bit better. Ichigo sighed into the kiss as he started to relax into it. He didn't know how to feel, but this experience sure was happening. He thought he was enjoying it, because he sure didn't stop, until—

"Hey, Ichigo, we're back! Are you two—" Yuzu asked, getting cut off by the loudest shriek she'd ever heard come from her brother. It was loud enough to wake up the other two patients in the room.

Ichigo's hair seemingly spiked up like the fur on a cat's back as his face turned beet red. He jolted up, nearly flying off of Chad's bed and onto his feet.

"Ichigo, were you just—? " Karin started, grinning.

"NO!"

"Are you sure, because it looked like you were ki—"

"**I WASN'T! **Just. Cleaning his wounds..."

After his abrupt outburst, he groaned, putting his hand on his head as he began to stumble with his vision beginning to fade. "Shit," he whined, plummeting to the floor face first.

"ICHIGO!" his family cried, Yuzu shrieking the loudest out of all of them.

"Ichigo?" Chad asked, peering over the side of his cot.

His family crowded around him in a panic, while Chad just watched with concern. He reminisced on how red Ichigo's face had gotten when his family rushed in. "I guess the blood really went to his head…"


End file.
